The price of petrol should be increased by several cents a litre as part of a general move towards "greening" the taxation system, according to a pre-Budget submission by An Taisce.
The heritage body cited an OECD report in 2001 on Ireland's environmental performance, which said there was "tremendous scope" for a shift towards environmental taxes to implement the polluter-pays principle.
It noted that the Government's climate change strategy, published in 2000, also made a commitment to introducing "appropriate tax measures" from 2002 with the aim of reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.
Although the strategy had made it clear that "business-as-usual is no longer an option for Ireland", An Taisce said, there was little evidence that the Department of Finance was prepared to embrace environmental taxation "in good times or in not-so-good times".
It said next week's Budget "must implement the recommendations of the two most respected independent economic think-tanks - the ERSI and the OECD, that we should implement eco-taxation - including carbon taxes and the polluter-pays principle."
Its submission also proposes a tax on pesticide and fertiliser use by farmers, following the example of the highly successful tax on plastic supermarket bags, as part of an effort to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, especially from cattle.
With transport expected to account for 60 per cent of the increase in Ireland's CO2 emissions by 2010, An Taisce said the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, should follow the OECD's advice that our "relatively low" fuel prices should be taxed.
The trust wants VRT (vehicle registration tax) to be restructured to establish a direct link between the level of CO2 emissions of each vehicle and the rate of taxation. This would be a significant step in addressing CO2 emissions from the transport sector, it said.
It is also seeking a shift away from roads expenditure to public transport infrastructure, including light rail schemes for Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, keeping the western rail corridor open and giving tax incentives to businesses using rail freight.
Other transport-related measures sought by An Taisce include "fast-tracking" capital investment in public transport for Dublin and proceeding with "environmentally beneficial" bypass schemes for Cashel, Ashbourne, Ennis, Carrickmacross and Monaghan.
"It is shocking that Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus are reviewing their capital expenditure programmes in view of the budgetary downturn. If we are serious about beating congestion, we should be expediting rather than delaying public transport spending," An Taisce said.
The Department of the Environment should no longer subsidise the provision of water and sewerage infrastructure for residential or industrial development that breached the strategic planning guidelines for the greater Dublin area.
